Ex-CIA official with gold, cash stash pleads guilty to fraud

This undated handout photo from the US Department of Justice shows gold bars and cash at the residence of David Rush | AFP

A former senior CIA official who was arrested in May with a hoard of hundreds of gold bars worth more than $45 million in his home pleaded guilty to fraud on Tuesday.

David Rush, 49, who held a top secret security clearance at the Central Intelligence Agency, is to be sentenced on January 28 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, the Justice Department said.

According to prosecutors, Rush, while employed by the CIA, created a fictitious classified program to obtain government funds and then used them for his personal benefit.

Rush fraudulently obtained $193 million through his scheme, they said, and used it to purchase gold bars, Rolex watches, jewelry, vehicles and luxury properties in Florida.

Law enforcement seized 298 gold bars and $2 million in cash in the May raid on Rush’s home in Virginia.

According to prosecutors, Rush also transmitted top secret national defense information to a “foreign government official” in 2025.

“Rush revealed to a foreign government official the existence and certain descriptive information of a US government clandestine human source,” they said.

The identity of the foreign official was not revealed.

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“David Rush abused his position and betrayed the public trust and should be held fully accountable for his actions,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.

“The Agency is committed to ensuring that those entrusted with our Nation’s secrets are held to the absolute highest standard.”

According to prosecutors, Rush “fabricated a highly classified program to justify the acquisition of luxury real estate, which he then intended to sell for personal profit.”

Rush also “fabricated a separate purported sensitive government activity to justify the acquisition of the gold bars.”

“Neither the program nor the separate sensitive activity existed, and Rush was not authorized to acquire the assets as he claimed.”

In court documents, prosecutors said Rush had also lied about his educational and professional background before joining the CIA, including a false claim that he had been a US military pilot.